USA

Ford Motor Co., which lost $2.7 billion last year, surprised Wall Street Thursday by reporting a first-quarter profit of $100 million, thanks in part to sales in Europe and South America. The automaker warned, however, to expect rocky times ahead.

Georgia, Texas, and Virginia have announced plans to executea handful of convicted killers in May, thus ending a de facto eight-month, national moratorium on capital punishment. Executions were suspended until the Supreme Court ruled April 16 that three-drug lethal injections are constitutional.

Federal prosecutors, stymied in their first two attempts to gain convictions of six men accused of plotting to bomb Chicago's Sears Tower and FBI buildings in several cities, said Wednesday in Miami that they'll try again after two hung juries.

The Florida Legislature is considering a proposal for the stateto become the first in the nation to offer a religious-themed specialty license plate, which would include a Christian cross.

The water level in Lake Powell, which stretches 100 miles acrossUtah and Arizona, is expected to rise 50 feet as the result of snowmelt, hydrologists are predicting. Drought-depleted rivers and lakes across the West are benefiting from one of the region's wettest winters in several years.